U-City’s Basketball Season Ends With District Championship Loss At Clayton

When varsity basketball player Brandon Wagner duped a Clayton High defender into fouling him on a three-point attempt late in Friday night’s Class 4 District 6 championship game at Clayton High, it seemed like the Lions had the Greyhounds right where they wanted them.

The University City fans were in a frenzy, the Clayton fans were frazzled, and the Clayton team looked flustered, especially after Wagner drilled all three foul shot attempts to give his team a 66-63 lead.

But that was the last bit of excitement the U-City basketball team and its faithful would experience this season, as Clayton preceded to make all the right plays down the stretch to regain the lead, and eventually pull away, in an 80-70 district championship win over the Lions.

“We couldn’t stop them,” University City head coach David Gannon said. “They just wouldn’t miss a shot. And even when they did, somebody would fly in there and get the offensive rebound, and they’d score on that.”

The Greyhounds closed the game with a scintillating 17-4 spurt that U-City just didn’t have time to recover from. 

Clayton senior Ahmad Smith made several key plays during that stretch, including a tough jumper in the lane that made the score 66-65, and a brilliant offensive rebound, that led to a clutch three-pointer by teammate Charlie Harned, that gave the Greyhounds the lead for good with about two minutes left in the game.

“Big-time players make big-time plays in this kind of game,” Clayton head coach Ryan Luhning said. “And Christian Thomas and Ahmad Smith are as good as they get in the area. They led us to this victory, and that’s what seniors are supposed to do.”

Thomas finished with a game-high 28 points, and Smith added 27, as Clayton won its first district basketball championship since 2006.

The Greyhounds will play Soldan High, which defeated Jennings High in Class 4 District 5 championship, in the state sectionals on Wednesday, March 2, at Parkway West High in Ballwin.

The winner of that game will advance to the state quarterfinals at Lindenwood University in St. Charles on Saturday, March 5.

“Our kids have played in big games before,” Luhning said. “Our kids know Soldan’s personnel. They’re awfully talented. But we’ll be ready to play.”

The finish to Friday’s game was quite different from how it started. At the outset, it was U-City who came out blazing.

The Lions, fueled by a frenetic defense, held Clayton to just two baskets for most of the first quarter, and hit six of their own first eight shots to take an early 14-6 lead.

Then, after Clayton tried to regroup, U-City scoring machine Travon Williams got going, knocking down several breathtaking shots, including two NBA-range three-pointers and a thunderous monster jam after dribbling past two Greyhound defenders.  

“All our kids played as hard as you could possibly ask them to,” Gannon said. “They were hitting shots, playing hard on ‘D’. They did everything we asked them to.”

The play that probably sealed U-City’s fate though, was a bad pass turnover that led to a driving layup and three-point play by Clayton’s Smith that made U-City’s deficit 76-68 with only 43 seconds left in the game.

“That kid made all kinds of plays for Clayton tonight,” Gannon said. “We just couldn’t ever get a body on him. He stepped up big for them tonight.”

The proceedings seemed to be set up for Wagner to be the fourth quarter hero Friday night.

Not only did he give U-City the lead with the three free throws, the 6’1 senior drained two huge three-pointers, and made a steal and a sprawling layup earlier in the period that kept the Lions in the game.

Wagner finished with a team-high 19 points, while Williams added 18 for U-City, which saw its season end with a 17-10 record and a district runner-up finish, just two seasons after the team went 5-20, and couldn’t make it through the first round of districts.

“I’m proud of my kids,” Gannon said. “We’re building this program quick, and I expect us to be as good as this next year.”